


The Greatest Danger

by iCheat



Series: Steter Week 2017 [7]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Stiles Stilinski, BAMF Stiles, Canon-Typical Violence, Coming Out, Day 7, Human Alpha Stiles Stilinski, Multi, Sheriff Stilinski Finds Out, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Steter Week, Steter Week 2017, dealer's choice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 19:10:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12941805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iCheat/pseuds/iCheat
Summary: Stiles refuses to let Erica and Boyd suffer alone even if it means suffering more himself. The Sheriff gets them out of the basement and the power balance of Beacon Hills is shifting again.For day 7 of my belated Steter Week: Dealer's choice - human alpha Stiles





	The Greatest Danger

**Author's Note:**

> It's midnight and I'm dead.

“Wow, I’ll just walk out than shall I?” Stiles said when Gerard turned away from him toward Erica and Boyd. “Like, I get you’re a nut-job, I just didn’t realise you were an idiot too.”

He ignored the panic he felt when Gerard did turn his attention to him. He wasn’t as incompetent as he looked but, God, he had not been prepared for this. He was tired from the game, he was stunned, and now he was severely beaten. All in all, not a great time, but Hell if he was going to let Erica and Boyd be fucking electrocuted while he could do something about it.

Even if that something was getting more beaten.

Someone would eventually notice he was missing.

His dad, at least, and Stiles had all kinds of stuff linking back to the Argents. Nothing seriously incriminating, though he’d been getting there, but enough that his dad would come check the house. As long as he was aware enough to be loud that would be all he needed to get all three of them out of there. He definitely wasn’t leaving without the other two.

“Well, you’re not exactly showing a lot of intelligence, but I haven’t exactly heard stunning things.” Gerard said with a sneer as he towered over Stiles.

“Oh, now I’m really hurt, the racist, mass-murderer thinks poorly of me. Whatever will I do?”

“At least I know what I’m up against. You’re acting like you can run with wolves and you can’t even hold out against another human. You’re useless.”

“Got decent aim though.” Stiles said with a smirk before spitting blood at Gerard. It got near his eye like he’d hoped. At the very least he’d give the old man an infection. Gerard reared back for a moment, only to lurch forward again, grab the front of Stiles’s shirt and hit him in the face. Stiles fell back, hand going to cover his eye.

That wasn’t going to look good.

Gerard pulled out a handkerchief to wipe up the blood and Stiles smirked up at him, just because it would piss him off. Gerard shoved the handkerchief in his pocket and stepped towards Stiles. Erica and Boyd both stiffened looking towards the door which swung open to reveal another hunter.

“Gerard, the Sheriff is here.”

Gerard paused, Stiles grinned.

“Cuff him.” Gerard said in a commanding tone, turning away to grab something. The hunter obeyed, despite Stiles’s flailing. Once his hands were cuffed behind him Gerard came over and shoved a cloth in his mouth, putting another one over it and tying it at the back of his head. This done he pat Stiles’s face with a cruel expression.

“Ready for your father to fail you again?” He asked with a sneer. Stiles glared at him as he left the room then left out a breath through his nose. He was lucky Gerard had hit his eye and not his nose. Still, ok he hadn’t planned for this. He hadn’t actually planned at all. His father coming to get him was more of an absent dream to keep up moral.

Could be worse though. For one thing: cuffs? Like Stiles hadn’t learnt how to break out of cuffs by the time he was eight. He’d learnt from someone he shouldn’t have been talking to, his dad was not impressed. Stiles had been, and he kept a paper clip on him for that reason.

His father hadn’t been impressed with that either.

Ignoring the looks he was getting from Erica and Boyd, Stiles reached past his waist band to pull the paper clip off his underwear. Everyone had strange habits. Stiles put paperclips on his underwear. It was the last place people were going to look, if only because it was usually the last thing people got to.

Getting the cuffs off was easy, standing up was less easy. One too many blows to the head. His ribs hurt to, making breathing difficult even once he got the gag off. Despite that he shuffled over to Erica and Boyd’s set up, struggling to see through his swelling eye.

“All right just gotta turn this off- Son of a bitch!” Stiles jolted back from the shock he received and immediately spun around when the door to the basement opened.

It wasn’t Gerard. It was his dad and a deputy, both armed. Stiles, with bruises forming and his eye swelling, gave an awkward smile. His dad immediately holstered his gun, came down and grabbed him in a hug. Stiles let out a noise of pain as his ribs protested but hugged back to the best of his ability.

The deputy quickly went about getting Erica and Boyd down while John started looking him over.

“What’d he do? You tell me everything right now Stiles.”

“He just ruffed me up a bit dad. The eye is ‘cause I got mouthy.” Stiles said, trying to reassure him.

“Of course you did. God, Stiles, when you disappeared I thought…” John pulled him into another hug, though this one was gentler to accommodate his ribs.

Eventually John let him go as the deputy approached with Erica and Boyd. Erica and Boyd both came to Stiles’s side to help him. John only gave them a short look before they all headed upstairs. The deputy stood with them as John barked out orders. A lot of the deputies that were there had known Stiles since he was little and were more than happy to be cuffing everyone in sight.

Stiles, Erica and Boyd climbed into John cruiser together since Erica and Boyd had basically attached themselves to Stiles. Stiles accepted it easily. He knew werewolves were tactile creatures and even humans liked physical comfort. Plus it gave him something to focus on other than the pain radiating through him.

John herded them into his office once they got to the station then excused himself to help sort out everyone they’d brought in.

“You two doing alright?” Stiles asked gently. Their chairs were closer together than normal. Erica had her hand in Stiles’s lap and her head on Boyd’s shoulder. Boyd had his arm stretched over the back of her chair so his hand could rest on Stiles’s shoulder.

“Yeah, Batman.” Erica said, a tired smile in place. “Thanks to you.”

“We would have found you eventually.” Stiles said, squeezing her hand.

“Who else was looking?” Boyd asked in a flat voice.

“I don’t really talk a lot to Derek. I’m sure he was looking. You’re pack.”

Erica made an uncomplimentary noise but didn’t comment.

“What do we tell your dad?” Boyd asked after a moment.

“The truth.” Stiles said with a sigh. “At this point I think he’s in more danger not knowing. Besides, they’re going to be investigating the Argents now and we can’t cover up everything.”

“Is that the best idea?” Erica asked warily.

“Don’t worry.” Stiles said confidently. “He won’t shoot you.”

When John came in Erica and Boyd both tensed, leaning more towards Stiles. Stiles kept his eyes on his dad. This wasn’t going to be fun. He was confident there wouldn’t be any shooting though.

“OK. I need you to tell me what happened.” John said, voice hard as he stared straight at Stiles. “No lies.”

“Alright, but you need to have an open mind and save questions until the end.”

John scowled but nodded his agreement as he sat back in his chair. So Stiles took a breath and told his dad everything that had happened since that night in the woods. Erica and Boyd didn’t even know the first half so they were paying just as much attention. When he got to their involvement they both did their best not to look at the Sheriff. Stiles ended with the hunters grabbing him and what he remembered of the basement.

“That’s a lot to take in,” John said slowly. Stiles looked at Erica and Boyd. They both looked uncomfortable but shifted to show their beta faces. John just stared for a long moment before he raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “All right, this is happening. I still need to know how you two got caught.”

Erica and Boyd shifted back to their humans form and told their part. Accepting the bite, their argument with Derek, running away, and falling into the Argent trap. John listened without interruption, as he had with Stiles, and when they finished he nodded thoughtfully.

“Allison was definitely involved?”

“Yes Sir.” Boyd said.

“Alright. Alright, werewolves. Alright.”

“You ok, dad?” Stiles said, mildly concerned about his father.

“Yes. I want bacon.” John said, and continued before Stiles could argue. “Alright, I’m against the majority of what we’re about to do but I think keeping werewolves quiet is a good idea. I’m going to edit the statements you’ve given me. Gerard a racist asshole, so we might as well use that.”

“Gerard kidnapped us because we’re together.” Erica said with a sad look, leaning more into Boyd. “He kept saying I could ‘do better’ and whatever.”

“Well, at least you know your lines.” John said as he rolled his eyes. “And Stiles, you were already investigating the Agents. It would make sense he wanted to stop you.”

“That won’t work,” Stiles said, “I didn’t tell anyone I was investigating the Argents, not even Scott. Homophobic isn’t that much of a stretch from racist though.”

“You’re gay?” Erica asked before John had a chance to speak. She only twitched a little when she noticed the stare off father and son were having.

“I’m bi. It’s just never really come up.”

John stared for a moment longer before he let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes tired.

“Ok, we’ll talk about that later too. Deputy Morris will drive the three of you to the hospital. Stiles, I know you want to tell me you’re fine but you’re not. We should have taken you straight to the hospital but everything got a bit backwards in the confusion. Also, I’ll be honest I didn’t want you out of my sight. Your parents will meet you there.”

“We don’t really need the-”

“You’re going to the hospital, Stiles,” John said firmly, “End of discussion. I can’t leave now but I’ll be there in the morning.”

“Alright.” Stiles said resignedly. He did actually hurt, kind of everywhere, but the hospital was expensive. Probably for the best though since Erica and Boyd seemed quite attached to him. Plus his dad probably needed some time to work through everything, not to mention work out the cover up.

“Doing alright, Stiles?” Deputy Henry Morris said, looking Stiles over.

“Always.”

“Can you see through that eye?”

“Not even a little.”

“I thought we taught you better than this.”

“Caught me by surprise. Also, I’ll admit, I may have made assumptions based on his age.”

Henry shook his head as he ushered them into the car. “We’re going to have to get you back to training at this rate.”

“God, please no.” Stiles said with a groan. Erica and Boyd both reached out to comfort him and he smiled comfortingly at them. “I used to train with the new deputies. It helped ware me out and kept dad from worrying what I was up to.”

“Plus it was a good training exercise.” Henry said from the driver’s seat. “If you could keep your eye on Stiles no one was going to doubt you’re ability to watch a suspect.”

“I feel used.”

Henry laughed, Erica and Boyd chuckled but made no move to put more space between them. The rest of the trip was mostly quiet and their arrival at the hospital was already organised. Erica and Boyd were both fine physically, just worn out, but Stiles had several nurses converging on him. They, much like the deputies, knew Stiles very well, either from Stiles regular visits when he was younger or from how often he came in with Scott.

It had been a while but Stiles knew well enough not to fight with them. Especially when Melissa brought the Doctor him and gave him a look that dared him to try to leave. He’d be lucky if he got out of the hospital tomorrow.

Stiles managed to be mostly still for the necessary tests. They only had to remind him a few times.

Eventually the tests were all done and Stiles was laid into a bed. Erica and Boyd came in shortly after, their parents waiting at the door talking quietly to Melissa. Stiles grinned and Erica and Boyd both took a hand and discretely scented him.

“It’s perfectly natural,” Melissa was saying to their parents, “They went through a traumatic experience together. I haven’t had a chance to ask about it but most likely they’ll want to stay close together because they trust each other to have their backs. It’s not that they don’t trust you, but they don’t have to explain themselves to someone who was there.”

“How bad is it?” Erica asked, clearly ignoring the adults’ conversation.

“Nothing to worry about, Catwoman.” Stiles said patting her hand clumsily. “I am high as balls and I feel nothing.”

Boyd let out a little snort and Stiles grinned at him.

“I’m gonna tell the school I fought a gang.”

“Well, you kind of did.” Erica said amusedly.

“It’s much better than saying someone’s grandpa kicked my ass.” Stiles said with a sage nod. “Plus side! No suicides. Couch can’t make me do anything!”

“Stiles.” Melissa said, firm look in place as she stepped into the room. “Keep it down, and don’t you dare sit up. Your ribs are badly damaged. Mostly it’s just bad bruising though and a few cuts on your risk.”

“Hand cuff guy was not gentle.” Stiles said, not fighting as the two betas pushed him back onto the bed. “He’s a bad kinkster.”

“I’m sure.” Melissa said before she turned to the other two. “I’m sorry but you two have to leave. It’s getting late. You’re parents are waiting for you. You can come back and see him tomorrow.”

They both nodded. Boyd gave Stiles’s shoulder a squeeze and Erica gave him a pet on the head. They both looked back with sad eyes but their lips quirked up when Stiles gave them a big grin and waver energetically.

* * *

Stiles slept restlessly. Between the new nightmare fodder and the pain medication screwing with him he was lucky to sleep at all. Even with the medication if he moved too suddenly or the wrong way it pain shot through him.

Honestly he was so out of it that when someone slipped through the door he didn’t manage to open his eyes until they were sitting next to him. He lifted his hand and the person took it and brushed it absently. Scenting.

“Good werewolf.” Stiles said, already drifting again, thoughts on Erica and Boyd. “You’re good, you’re ok. No more nasty hunters.”

“How sweet.” Replied a voice Stiles couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t quite sarcastic, though that was clearly the intent. Stiles just nodded vaguely and fell back to sleep.

He woke up with only snippets of memories of unfocused dreams.

* * *

“I’m fine!”

“You can’t even see out of one eye, Stiles. It’s swollen shut.”

“So I have to be careful about my depth perception. I can still see. I want to be free.”

“You’re in hospital, not prison.”

“Same difference. Small room, bad food, and cops keep visiting me.”

The deputy at the door snorted, biting back laughter when John shot him a scowl. Stiles smirked at him and opened his mouth to start whining again.

“Stop. I’m signing you out. It’s only Saturday so we’ll have to wait and see whether or not you’ll be ok to go to school on Monday. Mrs Abbott gave me some of her bruise cream. It’s waiting for you at home.”

“Yes!” Stiles said brightly. “Bruise be gone.”

“No one calls it that.” John said with a roll of his eyes. He immediately went to support Stiles when he started climbing out of the bed. Stiles, to his credit, only grimaced a little. Fortunately the worst damage was a couple fractured ribs, but factures but nothing was broken. He was just worn out and a little unbalanced because of his eye. He could walk just fine on his own but John was very prepared to need to steer him away from potential injury.

Stiles was happy to be out of the hospital. He looked awful but it really wasn’t anything that required him staying there. He’d much rather do his resting up at home. John pulled into the drive and Stiles climbed out to see Erica and Boyd waiting outside the front door.

“Our parents just dropped us off,” Boyd said. It was clearly directed at John but he was looking at Stiles. Stiles clapped him on the shoulder in greeting before he pulled Erica into a hug. He led them both through the door after John.

“Someone make popcorn,” Stiles said loudly as he collapsed, carefully, onto the couch, “We’re gonna watch a movie.”

“You three sit down, I’ll grab the popcorn,” John said. He paused to watch Erica and Boyd situate themselves. They took to love seat, leaving Stiles the couch to himself, but it was close enough that either of them could reach Stiles with only a little effort.

The three teenagers spent the day watching movies or chatting aimlessly. Stiles ended up needling John until he took a nap since he was looking exhausted. Eventually Erica and Boyd’s parents came to pick them up, clearly waiting to know where they were. John got up in time to eat food with Stiles and follow him up the stairs.

“I can manage stairs, dad.”

“You can barely manage stairs on a regular day. Humour me.”

“Haha, you’re so funny.” Stiles said sarcastically as he sat down at his desk.

“You had to get it from somewhere.” John sat down on Stiles’s back and focused on him with a serious look. “Stiles I know I lot’s been going on, and you’re still in a lot of trouble for all the lying, but I did want to apologise for that night at Jungle.”

“Well, to be fair-”

“No, whatever else was going on you tried to come out and I blew you off. Beacon Hills does pretty well for a small town but we still have the occasional homophobe and I’ve always thought they were stupid but it doesn’t look like I’m much better when I’m so prepared to dismiss my own son going out. A lot’s going to have to change now that I know what’s going on, namely no more secrets, but I want you to know that I will always support you.”

“Thanks dad.” Stiles said, voice tight. He hadn’t realised how much he wanted, needed, to hear that. He knew his dad wouldn’t have a problem with it but it still felt amazing to actually hear him say it. John stood and pulled him into a hug, mindful of his ribs.

“We can deal with everything else as it comes.” John said when he pulled away. “For now, you need to rest and I need to finish up rounding up Argent’s men.”

“Take ‘em down dad.” Stiles said with a laugh.

When his dad left Stiles turned to his computer. Melissa had filled them in on what she knew about Jackson and dad was going to ask Chris and Allison what they knew about the situation. It seemed that, for the moment at least things were settling.

Which meant Stiles had time for general research to prepare for whatever came next. Also he still needed to work out what was up with Lydia. Humans weren’t just immune to werewolf bites, someone would have found out about that by now. He had no idea where to even start with that though.

It retrospect it wasn’t that surprising that Stiles had entered a Wikipedia spiral when someone cleared their throat. Stiles shrieked, jumped out of his seat, and immediately groaned as his entire body protested. Then, of course, he actually looked at who it was and he very nearly repeated the entire process. Fortunately his ribs were protesting enough that he managed to hold it back.

“What the fuck? I thought you were dead.” Stiles said accusingly as he glared at Peter Hale, alive and well in his bedroom.

“I was. It was dreadfully boring.” Peter replied with a smirk. Asshole.

“Well you better have a good reason for being in my room unless you want to get back to taking a dirt nap.”

“Honestly, so hostile. As though I was the one who murdered you last time we met.”

“You deserved it. You were insane and you tried to kill me and pretty much everyone I know.”

“Not even a denial.”

“What do you want, Peter?” Stiles said in a hard voice.

“I wanted to check on you.” Peter said plainly. “You’re the most interesting person in Beacon Hills at the moment and I would hate for you to end up just another number in Argent’s kill count.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes. Peter definitely wanted something. He was a manipulative asshole he wouldn’t show up in Stiles’s room without a plan and there was no reason for him to believe he could actually guilt Stiles into anything. He couldn’t work out what Peter Hale could want from him though. He couldn’t bite Stiles anymore and he was delusional if he thought Stiles would help him kill Derek.

“So, I’m alive and well.” Stiles said as he folded his arms. He refused to back down from Peter, not after all the shit he’d been through. If Peter thought he was getting to anyone through him he’d be in for a rude awakening. “What’s the plan?”

Peter just grinned, which was mildly unnerving but also kind of expected.

“Why, align myself with the strongest power, of course.” He stood, dropped something on Stiles’s bed and moved towards the window. “I thought you might enjoy some relevant reading while you’re stuck on bed rest. Careful with it, it’s quite rare.”

He was out the window before Stiles could say anything else. Stiles scoffed and called out to use the door next time before smacking himself in the face. He didn’t want there to _be_ a next time.

He looked down at the book on his bed and it immediately had his full attention. It was a plain, leather bound book that looked incredibly old. He opened it up and the first page was covered in a wide array of symbols with different names under them. The one that caught his attention was the wolf head with red eyes right in the middle.

Scrawled along the bottom of the page was: _‘Beware the greatest danger that all who exist in this world must face: power.’_

**Author's Note:**

> In an alternate universe this is a Stiles/Erica/Boyd fic.  
> Hope you enjoyed my belated Steter Week! I'm going to sleep for a month.
> 
> The work was heavily inspired by The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, an awesome fic that can be found here: https://graciebirdie.tumblr.com/post/166001573845/sooooo-i-wrote-the-first-chapter-of-my-steter  
> You should definitely go read it if you liked my fic.


End file.
